Honolulu holding company buys Japanese visitor publication

AN operating unit of Honolulu holding company aio Group has purchased Hawaii-Ai, a venerable Japanese-language magazine serving visitors to Hawaii.

ID8, which is 40 percent-owned by aio, purchased the assets of Hawaii-Ai from Stone Publishing Co. Inc., which launched the magazine in 1981 as the Japanese Guide to Hawaii.

The purchase price and terms were not disclosed.

"Hawaii-Ai has a long and proud history and it will be a good fit for ID8," said Duane Kurisu, aio chairman and chief executive officer. He is also a minority investor in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

Hawaii-Ai's staff of six has been retained by ID8. Former associate publisher Isabel Figel will help in the transition and will then pursue other interests, said Raymond Nishiyaga, president of ID8.

ID8 and its Obun Hawaii operating unit, "as a combined group," has retained a strong presence in publishing for the Japanese visitor market since Obun Hawaii was sold by its Japan-based parent in about 2000, he said.

Its former Aloha Street title, a quarterly Japanese-language visitor magazine also launched in 1981, stayed behind and has since been published by Wincubic.com, a company once related to Obun Hawaii.

Its purchase of Hawaii-Ai creates an interesting wrinkle in the highly competitive Japanese visitor publication landscape.